Almost a catastrophic mistake!

[TheJezster]

Golfers are looking up sports scores, text messages and even their fantasy football scores? No wonder there are concerns about slow play, when do they have time to play a golf shot?

We definitely don't need to be getting them to check the live leaderboard itf that is the case, just another delay in the long list of other mobile phone related distractions. Maybe we need to ban phones altogether, unless we need an ambulance. They do that in our county golf league, no mobile phones allowed otherwise DQ. Although, that was mainly brought in because apparently in the past, early groups used to text their mates behind them to tell them what club to hit.

You say that like its actually a surprise to you!!?? Of course people will check the scores at the weekend, why wouldn't they?

If I'm playing a round on a Saturday afternoon say, when all the matches are on, I'll keep in touch with whats going on. It takes zero time out of the round, and why would it, its not hard to check your phone while walking to the next shot, or waiting on someone to tee off after you have.

You don't have to live on the phone, but checking scores once in a while isn't a reason for slow play. Ok it CAN be if someone lets it, like anything. No putting your glove on in time etc, but it's hardly the norm. And if someone was causing delay I'm sure someone in the group would say something.

I've not played with a live leaderboard but I quite fancy the idea though, to see what its like

 

[Swango1980]

You say that like its actually a surprise to you!!?? Of course people will check the scores at the weekend, why wouldn't they?

If I'm playing a round on a Saturday afternoon say, when all the matches are on, I'll keep in touch with whats going on. It takes zero time out of the round, and why would it, its not hard to check your phone while walking to the next shot, or waiting on someone to tee off after you have.

You don't have to live on the phone, but checking scores once in a while isn't a reason for slow play. Ok it CAN be if someone lets it, like anything. No putting your glove on in time etc, but it's hardly the norm. And if someone was causing delay I'm sure someone in the group would say something.

I've not played with a live leaderboard but I quite fancy the idea though, to see what its like

Exactly, it can be. Although I'm sure people can and will check their phones at times when it doesn't impact their shot time, on occasion it will have an impact. And, therefore, there can only ever be a nett increase in delay, because it will never balance itself out with times were play speeds up. So, in a big field, it just takes a few golfers here and there to check their phone, slightly delay their shot time, hold the guys up slightly behind them, and so on and so on. Very small delays, that can all add up to quite big delays to the guys in the following groups. A bit like a traffic accident, where the first cars that pass it slow down slightly to take a look. They are not delayed by much at all, but if it's busy enough it will cause a little bit more delay to the car behind, a bit more to the car behind that, and if you are 500 cars behind it you might be delayed for an extra 20 minutes.

By the way, I was partially taking the mick a little. I know people use their phones, and even I have checked the football scores from time to time (although never been that enthusiastic to check my fantasy football team). So, having a live leaderboard probably will have little impact in pace of play overall, especially if few golfers use it. I'd imagine a lot of golfers don't want to know anyway. The only way to really know is for someone who has it at their club discuss whether they think it has slowed things down or not.

 

[TheJezster]

Our comps span across Saturday and Sunday so it would be interesting how we would handle that. I'd be keen to see it blocked off on Saturday but opened up as soon as the last group have gone out on Sunday (we have to be off the course by 2pm on Sundays). That way it wont prevent anyone entering if there's a big score in.

If it's a one day comp, once the entire field are out I'd be keen to see how this works too, it could add some excitement. It might end up being a damp squib and dropped altogether, but suppose we'll never know until we try...

 

[Swango1980]

Our comps span across Saturday and Sunday so it would be interesting how we would handle that. I'd be keen to see it blocked off on Saturday but opened up as soon as the last group have gone out on Sunday (we have to be off the course by 2pm on Sundays). That way it wont prevent anyone entering if there's a big score in.

If it's a one day comp, once the entire field are out I'd be keen to see how this works too, it could add some excitement. It might end up being a damp squib and dropped altogether, but suppose we'll never know until we try...

I used to have an app, called Gamebook or Golf Gamebook. For social rounds, before you went out you could type in each player and handicap that was playing. Then, as long as one person in each group had the app, they could post the scores after each hole, and view the live leaderboard. Was really good, looked very professional as well. OK, there was a bit of time to begin with to enter all the players, but once it was set up it was easy enough to use. The only downside was that, at times it was a bit sluggish due to rubbish internet reception in areas. However, this was 4-5 years ago, so if it is still about it has probably been improved (or at least internet reception has got better)

 

[Jacko_G]

Golfers are looking up sports scores, text messages and even their fantasy football scores? No wonder there are concerns about slow play, when do they have time to play a golf shot?

We definitely don't need to be getting them to check the live leaderboard itf that is the case, just another delay in the long list of other mobile phone related distractions. Maybe we need to ban phones altogether, unless we need an ambulance. They do that in our county golf league, no mobile phones allowed otherwise DQ. Although, that was mainly brought in because apparently in the past, early groups used to text their mates behind them to tell them what club to hit.

Man, you are singing from my hymn sheet.

Can't understand why people need/want to have mobile phones on the golf course. Absolutely no requirement.

 

[Kennysarmy]

Man, you are singing from my hymn sheet.

Can't understand why people need/want to have mobile phones on the golf course. Absolutely no requirement.

No requirement for alcohol either but people still drink

Embrace the differences we all have I say.
I've no problem with a playing partner occasionally checking something on his phone during the round as long as it's not holding up play. But I'd draw the line at texting when driving!

 

[Grant85]

Why on earth would you not

Knowing we needed a par to win gave us a big advantage, imagine being 8 feet away knowing you have to hole the putt to win or if you can two putt - you'd approach the putt differently, no?

Anyway, that's a whole other debate, an interesting one though.

Gave us a big advantage to be drawn in the last group I think.

I used to not want to even keep track of my score in a medal. I always played my best golf when I didn't keep track of my score and just wrote down the numbers and counted them up at the end.

However I realised that I also usually played very well in matchplay. And this is because i was actually thinking about the score (albeit on each hole). Any time I missed my tee shot I was basically saying 'just give yourself a putt at par'... which usually meant 'get it back into position, then wedge on'. Ok - I'd still run up the odd numbers, but never felt under the same pressure as I did with a card in my hand.

So it wasn't the pressure that was causing me to score poorly, it was actually just trying to make pars and birdies that I wasn't really capable of on many holes.

So I now think a lot more about my score and usually have the realisation that I can afford to make bogeys at quite a few holes, but not doubles. Our 17th and 18th are two long par 4s - where par is a decent score for even low handicappers. If I've got a decent round going, then a quick check of the scores usually confirms that 2 bogeys are still pretty decent. I don't check HDID mind you. 17 has a bit of trouble right of the green - so a lay-up often makes sense. However 18 is pretty wide, so that's the one you can take on knowing you should still have a good chance of making no worse than 5.